Australia Sets a Licensing Deadline as Block Seeks an OCC Charter and the UK Backs a Digital-Asset Strategy

Australia, the Philippines, Singapore, the UK and the US moved crypto licensing and payment-rule projects from broad policy toward concrete operating requirements.

The week’s regulation news centred on the practical rules behind crypto services rather than token prices. Australia gave digital-asset businesses a final transition window for licences. The Philippines proposed a pause on new payment-operator registrations while it reviews the market. In the US and Singapore, firms pursued formal banking and payments permissions. The UK and US also advanced broader frameworks that will shape how providers organise compliance, custody and payment products. For customers and businesses, these actions matter because licensing determines who can operate, how client assets are handled and which payment services can connect with banks. It also affects the providers behind crypto wallets, cards and payment tools that turn digital assets into usable balances.

ASIC Extends Australia’s Digital-Asset Licensing Window to 30 September

Australia’s Securities and Investments Commission extended its no-action position for qualifying digital-asset firms until 30 September 2026. The extension gives firms providing regulated financial services more time to apply for, or vary, an Australian Financial Services Licence while they move into the country’s updated framework.

ASIC’s guidance covers businesses whose digital-asset activity falls within existing financial-services law. The regulator also broadened the transition to cover certain authorised-representative and intermediary arrangements. Firms still need to notify ASIC and prepare for the licensing process; the extension is not a permanent exemption. ASIC’s digital-asset licensing guidance sets out how it assesses services involving crypto-assets that are financial products.

For a provider building crypto finance services, the immediate task is operational: map each product, identify which entity is responsible for customer funds and make sure the permissions match the service actually offered.

The Philippines Proposes a Pause on New Payment-Operator Registrations

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas prepared a draft circular that would temporarily suspend new registrations for Operators of Payment Systems. The proposal targets new entrants while the central bank reviews how payment businesses fit within its oversight framework.

The measure does not mean that every existing operator must stop serving customers. It would change the path for businesses attempting to enter during the pause and make the regulator’s registration process a more important part of market planning. Payment-system registration already sits within the Philippines’ national payments framework, which covers the oversight of operators and payment infrastructure.

That distinction matters to businesses that use crypto payment gateways or build checkout tools around a local partner. A consumer-facing product can look ready at the app level while its payment rail still depends on an operator’s regulatory status.

Block Seeks a US Trust Charter as Gemini Receives a Singapore Payments Licence

Block applied to the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Builders Bank & Trust, an uninsured national trust bank intended for Bitcoin and stablecoin custody. Gemini Digital Payments Singapore also received a Major Payment Institution licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for digital-payment-token and cross-border transfer services.

The two moves use different legal routes, but both replace fragmented permissions with a clearer regulated structure. A US trust-bank charter would place a custody vehicle under direct federal supervision if approved. Singapore’s MPI licence gives Gemini a defined framework for the payment services covered by the authorisation.

Formal permissions do not make any service risk-free. They do give customers and partners a clearer place to check what a provider is allowed to do. That is useful when comparing Bitcoin payments services or deciding which business can safely hold, move or convert a crypto balance.

The UK Backs a Digital-Asset Strategy as US Lawmakers Revise Market-Structure Rules

The UK House of Lords backed an amendment requiring the Treasury to publish and consult on a national digital-asset strategy within 12 months of the Financial Services and Markets Bill becoming law. In the US, Senate Republicans released a revised CLARITY Act draft that adds registration requirements for controlled trading protocols ahead of the next procedural vote.

The UK action gives government departments a timetable for setting out how crypto-assets, stablecoins and related payment infrastructure fit into the country’s financial system. The US draft focuses on market structure and the responsibilities of identifiable operators. Neither event gives a customer a new payment feature today, but both change the compliance assumptions that exchanges, custodians and payment providers will need to use when planning products.

For merchants that want to accept crypto payments, the useful signal is not a headline about legislation. It is whether the resulting rules make banking access, service-provider checks and consumer disclosures more predictable. That is the infrastructure that allows a payment option to move from a pilot into regular checkout.